Washington, April 19 (IANS) Michael Avenatti, adult movie star Stormy Daniels' lawyer, who is suing US President Donald Trump, on Wednesday exchanged fire with Trump directly on Twitter after the latter posted his first tweet about Daniels.
Trump on early Wednesday morning posted a tweet, disputing Daniels' allegation that she was accosted and threatened in 2011 by a man who urged her not to disclose the alleged affair, Xinhua reported.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, released a sketch of the man on Tuesday on ABC's day time talk show programme The View, described details of her sexual relationship with Trump, especially the first encounter that occurred in July 2006, and how she was threatened by a man in 2011, a few weeks after she tried to sell her story with Trump to a magazine for $15,000.
"I was in a parking lot, going to a fitness class with my infant daughter... and a guy walked up on me and said to me, 'Leave Trump alone. Forget the story.' And then he leaned around and looked at my daughter and said, 'That's a beautiful little girl. It'd be a shame if something happened to her mom.' And then he was gone," Daniels said.
Trump, through representatives, denied his relationship with Daniels and insisted that he was unaware of the payoff by his attorney Michael Cohen, who, Daniels said, had paid her $130,000 before the 2016 presidential election.
But he posted his first tweet about the issue, saying "A sketch years later about a nonexistent man, A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!"
In reply, Avenatti mocked the president on his official Twitter page, saying "In my experience, there is nothing better in litigation than having a completely unhinged, undisciplined opponent who is prone to shooting himself in the foot. Always leads to BIGLY problems...like new claims (i.e. defamation)".
In another tweet, Avenatti referred to "FBI search warrants uncovering EXISTING documents and recordings showing con job after con job pulled on REAL people and very REAL American citizens".
Avenatti on Tuesday announced on the programme The View to offer a $100,000 reward for the identification of the man, he raise the rewards to $131,000 hours later.
Daniels is now suing Trump and Cohen in Los Angeles court to be released from a non-disclosure agreement between the third parts because Trump never signed it.
FBI agents raided Cohen's office and home in New York last week as part of a criminal probe and seized files related to the case.
